Tattoos do not lie
by Blindgemiinii
Summary: on Ryia where everyone has a tattoo there is no way to hide from your feelings- warning may include some NSFW in later chapters. might include some other shipings.
1. preface

A special thanks to  post/40074023696/dicksp8jr-thetimetravelersguidetothega laxy here is a link to the post

Preface-

This is Ryia. Where almost everyone has a tattoo by the age of 21, the difference is they just appear on you, you cannot go in for one. On Ryia the life forms are just like any other human, besides the random appearing tattoos of course. A tattoo appears when something inside you changes, for example, let's say you watched a butcher movie about animals being ruthlessly killed and after that every time you saw someone eating meat you became nauseous. So you became a vegetarian and you resolved to never, ever eat meat again you might get a tattoo of a flower or an animal on your stomach. A person can get more than one tattoo it is normal to usually get 3 one for your personality, a second for something you are passionate about, and a third for someone you deeply care for. This can be embarrassing because if they don't know you like them and a tattoo randomly appears on you in front of them there could be a small problem. If something inside of you breaks, as sometimes things tend to do, the tattoo loses color but until you get over the broken feeling the tattoo won't disappear, and no getting them removed is not an option. This is Ryia, this is home, but even here where love can be obvious, it can still be hard.


	2. are walls on your side or not

"The vampires are coming out of the shadows; the children all run and hide from the sight. The humans call in the troops but the zombies awaken, the night is full of freighting sights" you take a deep breath to continue the story but someone stops you-

"Ga-gamzeee stop…" at the moment you are sitting cris-cross apple sauce in the middle of your apartment with a flashlight shining on your face. The voice you are telling this story with is completely stupid and without your face paint it would make someone like him die laughing, but I guess the face pant makes it hard to not be somewhat frightened. He looks up at you with big brown eyes that even in the dark somehow manage to shine just as bright as your flash light in pitch blackness. He is wrapped in a blanket and is curled into it so much that all you can see of him is part of his fluffy Mohawk and his big eyes.

"You are scaring me a-and I can't handle any m-more..." something inside of you starts to bubble with worry and fear; you're not sure why though because if you really liked him a tattoo would have appeared... the tattoos never lie. But the thought of him scared of you and might even leave you here scares the living shit out of you. You jump up and run towards the wall effectively running head first trying to get to the light switch, you must have flicked it when you hit the wall and fell to the hard unforgiving ground because the lights suddenly came on and Tavros has this expression of horror worry and – in 5 seconds I'm going to start dying- etched on his face. You were about to die of embarrassment, you do stupid things like this all the time and it never bothered you before but right now you could literally just…die. Then he starts to laugh

"omg g-gamzee!" he starts as a squeak and in about 3 seconds he has progressed to rolling on the floor laughing so hard he is sorting and crying. His laugh is so adorable and- wait adorable? Nonononono he is just a friend stupid brain! Goodness…Tavros snorts again which in turn causes you to start laughing but when you laugh its loud and kind of sounds like honking. You two go on laughing for a good 5 minutes when he gets up –still consumed in your blanket that you pulled off your bed-

"Gamzee are you o-ok?" his nose ring shines in the false lighting from your apartments light fixtures and his eyes glow with concern and the fact that we was crying only 5 seconds ago but his eyes are still amazing and you could just – nonono get that train off its tracks right fucking now!

"uh… oh yeah motherfucker I'm fine!" you jump up a little too fast but Tavros doesn't notice you cringe "See a brother's fine as can be! Honk!" You get him to smile a miraculous smile and he hugs you

"o-oh good you scared me for a sec-second" you blush but hug him back a little bit too long just in case the blush bleed through your paint you wanted to be safe and reassured that he wouldn't see it.

"so brother what do you wan-" you stopped- this feeling of cold completely covered you and this small warmth like the size of a normal paint brush flowed like warm water right where your blood pumper resides, you looked at Tav and shot him a sheepish smile and run to the bathroom shutting and locking the door behind you. It's not like this hasn't happened before you already have your other two tattoos one is a key hole completely back- it lies on the back of your neck, you think it represents the truth that people think you are easy to read but you need to let them in – or in this case let them unlock you- to figure out who you really are. The second one is on your hip and it's a purple and black guitar covered and surrounded by intricate purple and black designs representing your passion for music and art. You ripped off your shirt and stare open mouthed at the tattoo forming over your heart- it was a brownish color like a smooth creamy Carmel it was shaped like a bulls head turned sideways the head – instead of being attached to the body gradually turned into his tail which was flung over its head, and from the side view you could only see one horn- successfully creating a Taurus symbol. Needless to say you flipped the fuck out. As the color settled and you warmed up from the bone chilling experience all you could do was stare open mouthed at the tattoo, you knew exactly what this meant… you were in love. Tavros zodiac was Taurus, the symbol was Taurus, and **it was directly over your fucking heart**. There was absolutely no mistaking it you were in love with the guy who is standing on the other side of the bathroom door asking if you are ok and frankly… you had no clue on how to respond.


	3. to love or not to love

-Tavros point of view-

Gamzee had run off to the bathroom and has locked himself in there, it has been 45 minutes and you were starting to worry. You stood outside of the bathroom door calling to Gamzee, "gamz are, are you ok?" No answer. "g-gamzee come on…" you heard a muffled sound but you couldn't form words from it. "Gamzee are you hurt? I-ill wait till you c-come out!" your best friend Nepeta always claimed you had a soft spot for Gamzee but you were still un sure. For one there wasn't a tattoo proving otherwise! Your other two had already appeared but no one else has ever seen them. You had a pair of Carmel transparent wings on your upper back. Sometimes you wished they could actually give you flight even though it's entirely impossible. The other one was high up on your hip, it was a foot print was lined with brown but filled in grey and black right next to a paw print which was opposite in coloring lined with grey and black and filled In with a creamy brown. You absolutely loved your tattoos. Suddenly the door flew open and Gamzee walked out pale as a human in one of his scary stories.

"Gamzee! You look like you've seen a ghost!" he looked at you his eyes huge.

"T-T-Tavros! I-I thought you left I am- I am sorry!" he turned as if he was going to run back into the bathroom. You grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. No way in hell was he about to get away with this.

"Gamzee… a-are you ok?" he wrist was so warm like he was just flowing with adrenaline a moment ago.

"ye- no. no bro.. I don't know!" he sat down on the floor and curled in on himself.

"gamz what happened?" you looked down at him and if you didn't know any better he kind of curled up a bit more. "Gamzee you- you need to tell me what happened so I can help you!" he shoot you a disbelieving look.

"nothing wrong tavvy… just all up and saw something new is all." That wasn't good enough for you.

"bullshit what happened!" he looked at you like you just said he only had a week to live.

"I got a new tattoo…" wait… but he already had 2…

"you got a 3rd tattoo?" somewhere you are kind of jealous of whoever it was that had a secure place in his life.

"yeah…"

"your, urm… love one right…"

"seems to be so man" oh…

"oh… urm who is it of?" he blushed and smiled

"You hungry?" he stands up and walks towards the kitchen. You follow him and grab his writ again and spin him around. He looks at you and smiles, but it slowly fades. You stare at each other for a while and you were going to say something but you can't remember what it was. You back up till you are against the wall. He slowly leans in and rests his forehead on yours.

"Don't worry tour pretty lil Mohawk about it tavvy, I'll be ok maybe one day you can see it." What the hell just happened!? He then backed off and went to cook food for the two of you. You were so confused. You had to go over what just happened before you could move…Gamzee can like you, it's impossible! It so unusual for tattoos to show up if love is unrequited, it is unrequited...right?


	4. falling

-gamzees point of view-

Holy shit that was too close for you. You know that he won't give up on this, he may be shy at times but when it's just the two of you he usually comes out of his shell and he usually gets everything he's looking for, not that for almost everything you do anyway. Not this time. No stay strong Gamzee! Don't make eye contact or it all goes to hell. Tavros cannot know yet. Tavvy has a lot on his mind right now and you do not want to scare him away. Next to Nepeta and sometimes Karkat you're all he has. You turn around and see he's slowly recovering and moving to sit down on a stool by the table. You really hope you didn't take that too far, but you had to stop the questioning before you did something you would really regret. Simple fix- distract the boy. You'll admit you're not bad looking and without the paint you may even be considered handsome! You easily caught him off guard an-

"GAMZEE!"

shit what was that smell!?

"GAMZEE! MOVE!" you felt this force slam into you effectively pulling out of you distracting train of thought were was that even goin- focus man pull your shit together!

"Whoa! What's wrong bro?!" he was already up and throwing the pan into the sink with running water

"g-gamzee I don't think you're really ok…"

oh shit

"What do you mean tavvy?"

"Gamzee the pan was on fire, AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE! Are you ok!? You scared the shit out of me! You just stood there with a far off look with a fire right in front of you! You hair was this close to catching on fire!"

he showed me his pointer and thumb and had them just barley apart. His other hand on his hip- hip popped to one side- with a look full of worry and anger- god he was hot even when he was mad.

"Oh shit really? I'm so sorry tav…" next thing you know he's hugging you and needless to say it startled you.- Don't make a mistake Gamzee- you tell yourself. –you don't wanna let him know he might leave...- you push him off and smile softly.

"Sorry tavvy" you get up and pull out leftovers from the fridge for him- throw that shit on a plate and into the microwave and you try to make an escape. You make it into the hallway before he stops you.

"Gamzee what has gotten into you, i- I know you get spaced out sometimes but this is ridiculous!... you could have been hurt…" you looked up- shit bad idea, you quickly looked back down… he still held your wrist… floor boards are nice. Wood and uh lines and the ceiling is white that's a nice color…

"um tav…I need to talk with karkat." Good excuse.

"oh, uhh…ok" he reluctantly released your wrist and your heart sounded like it was in your ears. It worked. You ran in your room and grabbed your phone and texted your motherfucking best friend.

_Karkat I have a motherfucking problem_

_WHAT DID YOU DO FUCKASS_

_Nothing karbro… I didn't do nothing_

_WHAT WRONG WITH YOUR TXT? SHIT ARE YOU… SOBER?_

_No bro not sober I got… a new tattoo..._

_IM COMEING OVER_

_Tavs over too_

_LIKE I GIVE A SHIT, WAIT DOES HE KNOW?_

_He knows half of it he knows a motherfucker got one._

_ON MY WAY DON'T KILL YOURSELF FUCKASS._

You set the phone down and walk out to talk to tav. When you get to the living room he is on your beat up couch with your purple blanket wrapped around his somewhat thin but built frame, watching peter pan, and eating the leftover pasta. He looked so comfortable, like he lived here, and you had to admit the idea left a wonderful feeling under that new tattoo. God he was so adorable you had this sudden urge to curl up with him and wrap your long arms around him. To nuzzle the side of his head and kiss those soft looking li- suddenly the door slams open. Couldn't you finish at least one train of thought today, although it is probably for the best that this one was cut short. Tav looked up with a shocked look

"Oh uh…hi Karkat"

"Hi Tavros." He gave a soft glare

"I better go…" he left quickly.

You made quick working making a huge pile of soft shit and told Karkat everything and showed him the tattoo. And as soon as you finished you saw him give you a glare.

"kar-" then he slapped you and fuck! That hurt like a bitch.

"YOU LET HIM LEAVE?! YOU FUCKER!" oh right, helpless romantic.

"kar! He would of left me if he knew!"

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?! WELL YOU DON'T DO YOU? DAMN IT GAMZEE!" then he pulled you in a hug.

"I'm sorry but your making this harder on yourself then it needs to be, go get him" so you did as instructed. You thanked him grabbed your keys and practically ran out the door and to your car. You drove to tavs apartment complex and started to run up the stairs but it was winter and you slipped and slammed into the railing which cut your chest and you could feel the warm blood through your shirt. You fell fast. Freezing cold concrete step after step, two flights of stairs until you heard a tav like scream coming toward you. Everything went black.


	5. Merciless Beeping

-beep-  
"No please Gamzee don't die…"  
-BEEP-  
"Gamzee this isn't fair…"  
-beep-  
"You are all I have"  
-BEEP-  
"You're- YOU'RE ALL I HAVE GAMZEE"  
-beeeeep-  
"Mom died… Dad died… I- I had to watch them go to Gamzee… Please, don't make me watch you too"  
-BEEEP-  
"I need you"  
-beep-  
"I, I- I lo- Like you, bro…" You can't say it, not unless he lives.  
-BEEEeeeeepppp-  
"GAMZEE?!"

"Holy shit… CALL THE DOCCTOR! HELP!"

As the doctor came in barking orders and messing with Gamzee, you stepped away from the bed and sat in a chair. "There was nothing you could do" You had to repeat to yourself till the words left a dull throb, a distant memory beginning to form. You were not watching any more, in the back of your thoughts you heard the commotion but your main thought was of the past, the day you met him.  
Walking step by step, one foot after the other, it was like a game. Last year mom would take you to the store and you would step tile to tile, as if there was some great prize if you won. The silly saying: step on a crack you'll break your mothers back didn't seem so silly any more, now that she is gone. Last month to be exact, it feels like years but you remember it like it was only a few short hours ago.

"Tavros Hun. Buckle up, okay?"  
"Okay mom" Snap!  
"Good job honey" She smiled, so sweet and soft like you were the greatest child ever.  
"Thanks mommy!" Dad turns the key and starts driving, and soon you drift into sleep. Until you were jolted awake.  
"TAVROS!"  
"Mom?"

"MOM?"  
"DAD?"  
"MOMMY DADDY! Where are you?" You try to turn but you are trapped in the metal, shrap jagged meatal digging into your legs and drawing blood. But you could care less, you HAD to find them. Finally you see an arm… A bloody arm melted, smashed, and broken. She was staring at you with wide eyes, not quite dead.  
"Mom?"  
"T-Tav…" She uses her good arm and struggles to hand you something. You reach out and grab the small device.  
"911 Tav… Green button…" You dialed the number, they picked up.  
"Hello 911, what is your emergency"  
"mommy and daddy crashed! Mom has a broken arm and, and Dad… I don't see dad!"  
"Son, do you know your location?"  
"My-my what?!"  
"Where are you?"  
"I'M IN A CAR! … Or what's left of a car…"  
"Where is the car, kid?" They were growing annoyed.  
"On some highway. I uh think by Route, urm 32…"  
"We will be there soon." Beep.  
When the ambulance arrived, they took you all away. You were with dad…  
-beep-  
You were there.  
-BEEP-  
And you watched.  
-beep-  
As your wonderful…  
-BEEP-  
Loving…  
-beep-  
Caring…  
-BEEP-  
One of a kind Dad..  
-beep-  
Took his final breath..  
-BBEEEEeeepppp-  
… Mom died later that day… You watched her go to.  
-beep-  
-BEEP-  
-beep-  
"I love you tavros"  
-BEEP-  
"Stay strong, Love"  
-beep-  
"Goodbye, I'll watch over you. Always proud… An-"  
-BEEEeeep-  
You were 8. Now you are 9, walking to who knows where until you saw a boy. Two actually, running towards you at breakneck speed.  
"H-HEY" You called out, not really caring if they hit you. The taller one stopped and smiled, the shorter one halted and said  
"You lost kid?" Even though they both looked only a year older than you.  
"Urm, I guess you could say that.."  
"You need a home?"  
"Y-yeah…"  
"Follow me" The shorter one walks off in a different direction and the tall kid grabs your hand and gives it a firm shake.  
"I'm Gamzee motherfucking Makara. Who's you?" The clown face kind of threw you off, but he had a welcoming smile.  
"T-Tavros"


	6. Clear

-Gamzee's point of view-

_Where am I? It is so dark… fuck am I dead? It's so quiet except…_

"_No please Gamzee don't die…" _You feel your heart pick up, but it's so weak it is painful.

_Tavros? Can you hear me? Fucking mouth WORK!_

"_Gamzee this isn't fair…"_

_I know it's not my wicked bro… I am sorry_

"_You are all I have"_

_Tav… I-I'm listening… I only hear you…_

"_You're…YOU'RE ALL I HAVE GAMZEE!"_

_You're all I could ask for and so much more, please don't leave me… I am trapped here…_

"_Mom died… Dad died… I- I had to watch them go to Gamzee… Please, don't make me watch you too"_

_I won't Tavvy I swear I will never abandon you…_

"_I need you" _your heart thumped painfully in your chest

_I need you to man, I love you…_

"_I, I- I lo- Like you, bro…"_

_Oh holy shit can he hear you?_

_TAVROS! TAV CAN YOU HAER ME? HELP ME I CAN'T GET UP! MY EYES WONT OPEN I-_

**-BBBEEEEEeeeepppp-**

Distant mumbling, silent shuffling, soft crying, and a quiet buzzing fill your empty mind… you don't even have the energy to think in fact you don't even have the energy to lie down. Maybe death would be a nice what's left for you here?

_-Tavros-_

You will not let yourself go. For once you will resolve to take the hardest route and stay strong, he may be a bull but he needs you and you would be nothing without him.

What is that noise? That buzzing is getting louder… its really loud now. _WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON I-_

-CLEAR-

Your body jolts up and your heart starts again in the background you can hear a soft

-beep-

-BEEP-

-beep-

That was the best noise you have ever heard.

-CLEAR-

_FUCK! _That fucking hurt like a bitch!

-CLEAR-

_STOP!_

"STUGHHH"

"HE'S ALIVE!"

Ugh your head fucking hurt, your whole body hurt.

"Hello son, are you ok?"

Ok? I FUCKING DIED!

"Ugh I mmmhmmm"

"Ok good do you need anything?"

"I'm…tired"

The nurse looked at the doctor who was putting a new liquid in your IV bag. The doctor nodded and said,

"He should be fine I'm giving him a new medicine and he has this helper to call us if he needs help."

He pointed somewhere but you were already passed out.

You are jostled awake by something heavy next to you and a warm tingly feeling on your side. You open your eyes and glance over to find that Tavros had climbed in your bed and curled into you nuzzling into your arm, clearly he thought you were sleeping. Did he do this every night? The thought sent a warm feeling into your chest.

"Hey Tavvy…" He slowly raised his head and looked at you with big eyes full of tears. Oh shit he's been crying.

"Gamzee are you really…awake? Am **I **really awake this time? This is not just another dream?"

"Yeah bro, I am really here"

Suddenly you felt arms wrapped around you hugging tight- but still careful to not harm you.

"Oh my god I missed you!" fresh tears poured down his face as you pulled him into the hug more. You kissed the top of his head before you wiped away the tears. He smiled shyly up at you but it was a knowing smile… oh fuck no.

"Gamzee I uh…" he pointed down… at your bare chest.., oh no when they shocked you they must have open your shirt and because you fell asleep maybe they had other important matters then redressing a motherfucker… but shit if this messed this up for you…

"Shit brother I know I should have told you but I was all up and nervous and I didn't know what to do and I figured I'd tell you later but I mea-"

"Can uh, we not talk about it right now maybe?"

"Of course motherfucker"

"Can I curl back up maybe?"

"Definitely" he curls back into you and you both drift off into a soft warm sleep. The best sleep you have ever had.


	7. tomato soup just like walls it seems

Yo my homies I know I've kinda been a lazy ass for a while… sorry about that BUT I'm trying something new here write a review on what you think of my writing style in this, if there's a difference, and if there is which do you prefer?

-tav-

Ok. Yeah it's me, Tavros Nitram. Let's get a few things straight here. One: yes I am in bed sleeping with Gamzee Makara, two: no we are NOT together…well yet, and three I still don't have a tattoo so I can't be with him completely. I know this is probably unfair to him "leading him on" but I think it would hurt him more if I say I would date him and then I never got a tattoo. He most likely doesn't even notice plus I'm selfish and it still hurts to be away from him. When I thought he was going to die I was not going to go on without him. I know I would have, but I would have missed him more than life…

"Tav?" so he's up…

"Yeah Gamzee?" he turned looking at me, pretty dark eyes peaking through dark locks. Woah wait… pretty? What the heck Tavros…

"Why did you stay?" I figured we would have to have this conversation.

"Why wouldn't I?"

He smiled softly blushing gesturing to his tattoo…oh right

"Um do we have to talk about this?"

"Tavros…" he sounded exasperated

"Can't we wait?"

"Tav we need to talk about this man. We cannot keep putting this shit off. Your all up and sending me mixed signals.." shit he noticed

I sighed "Gamzee, I… I really like you ok"

He beamed affectively stopping my heart… damn it.

"But" his smile quickly dropped.

"But?"

"Yeah… but I don't have a tattoo…"

He sighed "I'll wait…if we can still cuddle"

I knew not to say yes. It would only lead him on! Say no! Stay strong! Manly hood Tavros manly hood!

"…of course" well I'd like to see YOU say no to his puppy dog face that shit is impossible to get past. If I ever became king that shit would be deemed illegal.

He nuzzled the short side of my Mohawk making me giggle, it was a manly giggle don't get me wrong geez.

"You need to get ready I get to take you home today!"

He frowned "I don't wanna get up!"

"There are needles here"

"Ok fine ill get up, but we are cuddling at my place" he winked

I rolled my eyes "fine"

Once he finally got dressed and I found my keys, he had once last check with the doctor just to be safe and then I checked him out. **OF THE HOSPITAL**! Geez!

"Alright Gamzee are you ready?" he smiled as he started to drag me out the door

"All sorts of ready Tav" he winked making me blush and feel a little frazzled.

"Why are you dragging me aren't I the one driving?"

He laughed and let me go "sorry Tavbro guess I'm excited and shit"

Finally I reached his place taking him back inside.

"So bro what is the plan?"

"Well to be honest I never thought past getting you home, are you hungry maybe?"

"I am down for some grub if you are willing to make it for a bro." I frowned

"Gamzee I cannot cook to save my life"

He laughed "I guess I'll just have to be the judge of that then huh?"

I rolled my eyes making my way to his kitchen not really in the mood to argue with him about this I should be able to think of something…

Just so we are all aware of the goal here, the goal was grilled cheese and tomato soup. It turned out fine the soup was a little cold and the grilled cheese in reality were black-crisps with a piece of what was once cheese in the middle. I was not in any way going to eat it but my shirt never planned to wear tomato soup either but it just as life works in… funny ways Gamzee laughed his ass off when I slipped and tomato soup covered my nice shirt. I gave him a soft glare before he made the right choice to stop laughing and to start helping me get cleaned up. He took me to the bathroom and went to get me a new shirt; I had already pealed mine off by the time he came in.

"Here's a new shirt Tavbro" he says handing it to me

"Thanks" he also got a towel wet because it seeped through my old nasty shirt and got all over my chest

"There that should do the trick" he said beaming then he stopped for a minute staring at my back.

"What's wrong Gamzee?"

"You only have two tatts right?"

"Yeah man one of a paw print slash foot print and one of wings"

He made an audible gulp "well… now there's three" oh…oh shit

"Can you tell who it's for? Where is it?" he reaches out softly touching my lower back

"It's here" he said softly

"Do you have any idea who it's of?"

He sighed "…yeah"

I turned to look at him "Gamzee who-"suddenly my world stopped. Nothing was real besides soft chapped lips were pressed softly but still firm against my own. Nothing mattered but this moment.

He backed away slowly bringing out his phone "Turn around".

I did as he said and he snapped a photo of my new tattoo showing it to me. It was the two theater masks one was frowning one was smiling, there were three colorful balls arching above them like a juggler's balls, and to top it off both masks had Gamzee's face paint markings.

I didn't waste any time reconnecting our lips and let's just say that new shirt was not needed for a little bit.


End file.
